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You can’t foil a plan that’s built upon Evil Love: “Couples Retreat”
I woke up in time to watch Ultimate Alien this morning.
Worst. Mistake. Of my LIFE.
The episode revolves around Darkstar trying to get into Ledgerdomain and Hopecaster falling in love with him. Well, at least Ben 10 isn’t waiting a year or more to show the aftermath of an episode. How’s that season-wide plot of the Forever Knights, St. George, and Dagon coming along? Darkstar is instantly healed by the magic flowing through the very air, and Hopecaster falls for him. Because as Kevin points out, she’s currently a nutjob.
I have issues with this episode. I have issues with Darkstar in general. Now, I’ve written off most of my problems as him having poor motivation, no real meat to his character, and generally just being a dull and uninteresting villain who only exists to beat the crap out of the heroes, drain their mana, and call Gwen creepy nicknames. However, I can no longer hide the truth of the matter why I hate him, why I’ve hated him since his first appearance in “All That Glitters,” why I fail to understand his fangirls, and why I know I’m going to get flamed for this.
Darkstar is a rapist.
The guy forcibly takes the life energy of people—primarily girls, though he has taken it from Ben and Kevin on occasion—and gets a high off of it. They describe him as a vampire, which doesn’t even begin to cover it. Sure, he sparkles and can turn teenage girls into mindless zombies just as easily as Robert Pattinson in Twilight, but give Edward Cullen some credit: he wants to hold off on doing the nasty until marriage and refuses to have sex or bite Bella until after that. Darkstar preys on girls’ weakness and in his first appearance, put a special mark on them that made them weak and addicted to him draining their power.
Here is a direct quote from my review of “All That Glitters”:
Finally, Morningstar's actions toward the girls edges creepily on rape territory. The way Kevin mentions how Gwen seemed to be trying to hide her tattoos is reminiscent of the way abuse victims may try to cover their bruises, and the desperation of Lucy and Trina shows a degree of codependence that allows Morningstar to keep preying on them. The fact that he wanted to keep Gwen all alone in an undisclosed location and then Kevin and Ben find her lying on the ground with Morningstar standing over her, having taken something from her in his quest for power... Overall, it made me glad to see the girls get back.
In fact, I own the DVD that has this episode. Let me show off some screencaps of those moments:
This is the sight that greets Kevin and Ben when they arrive at Darkstar’s current base. Gwen is limp in his arms as he drains her power, stopping only because he has to kill her rescuers. These are the other girls he’s preyed on, girls whose energy he regularly sucks dry and who can think no more than to stay with him because he makes them feel good. And this is Darkstar bragging to Kevin and Ben that he plans on repeatedly draining Gwen because she’s the best one he’s ever had and he can’t believe all the power he’s gotten off of her.
TV Tropes pointed out that when Guano Loco Kevin talked about draining Gwen’s power, it sounded like rape. In fact, “Absolute Power” did everything it could to build up the parallels between Guano Loco Kevin and Darkstar. So how is it that people miss the creepy rape metaphors with Darkstar? It’s not like Ben 10 doesn’t have creepy rape metaphors. Everyone and their grandmother noticed the way Gwen was so shaken up by having the Lucubra in her mind and then Dagon, and the way she described it was uncomfortably close to a mental equivalent of rape. So why isn’t this considered a magical equivalent of rape? In “Darkstar Rising,” Ben feared for Gwen getting recaptured by Darkstar the same way Kevin feared for Gwen getting re-invaded by Dagon in “A Knight to Remember.”
Now, yes, Hopecaster learns that he’s a weasel. She hears him call Gwen “lovely” and then learns that he didn’t even listen when she revealed her True Name to him. But seriously? It glossed over the major issue. They treated him as a two-timing boyfriend rather than dealing with the fact that he manipulates people and steals their very life energy by force. Just because Charmcaster was a consensual case, it doesn’t wipe the slate clean for him.
“Couples Retreat” was written by Geoffrey Thorne.
I need to go review Ryuki after this. I feel so unclean.
Worst. Mistake. Of my LIFE.
The episode revolves around Darkstar trying to get into Ledgerdomain and Hopecaster falling in love with him. Well, at least Ben 10 isn’t waiting a year or more to show the aftermath of an episode. How’s that season-wide plot of the Forever Knights, St. George, and Dagon coming along? Darkstar is instantly healed by the magic flowing through the very air, and Hopecaster falls for him. Because as Kevin points out, she’s currently a nutjob.
I have issues with this episode. I have issues with Darkstar in general. Now, I’ve written off most of my problems as him having poor motivation, no real meat to his character, and generally just being a dull and uninteresting villain who only exists to beat the crap out of the heroes, drain their mana, and call Gwen creepy nicknames. However, I can no longer hide the truth of the matter why I hate him, why I’ve hated him since his first appearance in “All That Glitters,” why I fail to understand his fangirls, and why I know I’m going to get flamed for this.
Darkstar is a rapist.
The guy forcibly takes the life energy of people—primarily girls, though he has taken it from Ben and Kevin on occasion—and gets a high off of it. They describe him as a vampire, which doesn’t even begin to cover it. Sure, he sparkles and can turn teenage girls into mindless zombies just as easily as Robert Pattinson in Twilight, but give Edward Cullen some credit: he wants to hold off on doing the nasty until marriage and refuses to have sex or bite Bella until after that. Darkstar preys on girls’ weakness and in his first appearance, put a special mark on them that made them weak and addicted to him draining their power.
Here is a direct quote from my review of “All That Glitters”:
Finally, Morningstar's actions toward the girls edges creepily on rape territory. The way Kevin mentions how Gwen seemed to be trying to hide her tattoos is reminiscent of the way abuse victims may try to cover their bruises, and the desperation of Lucy and Trina shows a degree of codependence that allows Morningstar to keep preying on them. The fact that he wanted to keep Gwen all alone in an undisclosed location and then Kevin and Ben find her lying on the ground with Morningstar standing over her, having taken something from her in his quest for power... Overall, it made me glad to see the girls get back.
In fact, I own the DVD that has this episode. Let me show off some screencaps of those moments:
This is the sight that greets Kevin and Ben when they arrive at Darkstar’s current base. Gwen is limp in his arms as he drains her power, stopping only because he has to kill her rescuers. These are the other girls he’s preyed on, girls whose energy he regularly sucks dry and who can think no more than to stay with him because he makes them feel good. And this is Darkstar bragging to Kevin and Ben that he plans on repeatedly draining Gwen because she’s the best one he’s ever had and he can’t believe all the power he’s gotten off of her.
TV Tropes pointed out that when Guano Loco Kevin talked about draining Gwen’s power, it sounded like rape. In fact, “Absolute Power” did everything it could to build up the parallels between Guano Loco Kevin and Darkstar. So how is it that people miss the creepy rape metaphors with Darkstar? It’s not like Ben 10 doesn’t have creepy rape metaphors. Everyone and their grandmother noticed the way Gwen was so shaken up by having the Lucubra in her mind and then Dagon, and the way she described it was uncomfortably close to a mental equivalent of rape. So why isn’t this considered a magical equivalent of rape? In “Darkstar Rising,” Ben feared for Gwen getting recaptured by Darkstar the same way Kevin feared for Gwen getting re-invaded by Dagon in “A Knight to Remember.”
Now, yes, Hopecaster learns that he’s a weasel. She hears him call Gwen “lovely” and then learns that he didn’t even listen when she revealed her True Name to him. But seriously? It glossed over the major issue. They treated him as a two-timing boyfriend rather than dealing with the fact that he manipulates people and steals their very life energy by force. Just because Charmcaster was a consensual case, it doesn’t wipe the slate clean for him.
“Couples Retreat” was written by Geoffrey Thorne.
I need to go review Ryuki after this. I feel so unclean.
no subject
Now I am grateful that Geoff Thorne (who has said on multiple occasion that he feels the character could carry her own series) showed how Charmcaster has developed since last episode and is trying to do better. That she allows herself to love at all is a big step up, even if she's mentally and emotionally disturbed in expressing that love.
That said, I hate the plot and hate how it involves Darkstar. Thorne pitched this episode to McDuffie, and, despite what he may claim, I think he was pandering to "Darkcaster" shippers by making this a thing, with both McDuffie and Thorne ignoring completely how much of a rapist allegory Darkstar is and how badly that makes the plot come off. And while we see how last episode made her develop, Charmcaster really doesn't get anything out of this episode; nothing but a broken heart. Thorne gets to write for a character he loves so much and he sticks her with THIS crap? What the hell?
Also, I HATED this:
Because as Kevin points out, she’s currently a nutjob
Not only is this an ableist remark, it's supremely hypocritical. Kevin has been a nutjob. Twice. The first time under similar circumstances to Charmcaster's. And yet he makes this crack with no sign of self awareness. It makes him becoming a nutjob for a third time, which will be upcoming in Omniverse, almost karmic, when it shouldn't.
Because the ending for last episode showed him having empathy for Charmcaster. His face was the same as Gwen's in that scene and his one line showed even greater understanding of Charmcaster's pain than Gwen's several lines. And as that essay I linked you to pointed out, realistically he should be even MORE concerned with helping Charmcaster than Gwen, he should feel obligated to do for her what Q'arrel did for him. But instead, Geoff Thorne makes him completely OOC to better service his dumbass Darkcaster plot and how the only one to make Charmcaster see reason is Darkstar's past rape victim. Disgusting.